Redevelopment of Norris University Center’s East Lawn to begin this summer
April 5, 2024
EVANSTON, Ill. --- From June 23 to June 29, 14 emerging professional songwriters will participate in The Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project at Northwestern University -- an intensive weeklong program on the Evanston campus that has produced 2013 Tony Award-nominated songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (nominated for “A Christmas Story, The Musical”), Fred Ebb Award-winner Sam Willmot, and Latin Grammy Award-winners Obed Bermudez and Jennifer Pena.
The annual program is a collaboration of The Johnny Mercer Foundation and the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University.
The weeklong program of master classes and workshops will culminate in “Songwriters -- In Concert,” a showcase of new works by the program’s participants that will kick off the Theatre and Interpretation Center (TIC) at Northwestern University’s 2013 SummerStage season at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Josephine Louis Theater, 20 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus.
The 2013 emerging songwriters will share the stage with three-time Academy Award-winning lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, who have collaborated with everyone from Barbra Streisand to Quincy Jones during their 50-year career in film, television and stage and whose treasured songs in the American songbook include “The Way We Were” and “The Windmills of Your Mind.” Single tickets are $10 to $30 and are available through the TIC Box Office at (847) 491-7282.
For more on the Bergmans, visit the Alan & Marilyn Bergman website.
The 2013 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project participants are David Are, Jake Brunger, Pippa Cleary, Matt Deitchman, Jed Feder, Luke Hawley, Peter Jericho, Jillian Kelleher, Heather Robb, Jean Rohe, Sarah Rogo, Justina Shandler, Simon Scheuer and Allison Strong. For more information and full bios, visit the American Music Theatre Project website.
A variety of genres of music -- folk, pop, music theatre, American roots, alt-indie, R&B, Afro-soul, bluegrass and country -- will be represented. Thanks to the generosity of The Johnny Mercer Foundation, participants attend the program at no charge and housing and travel are covered.
Chosen from a competitive pool of applicants, this year’s participants -- three of whom come from as far away as London -- will work with master teachers Jon Lind, award-winning songwriter and senior vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R) at Hollywood Records; Tony Award-nominated composer and lyricist Craig Carnelia; and three-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter Lari White. For more information and full bios, visit the Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project website.
